Five Irish boxers in contention for gold at European Women's Championships
Kenneth Fox
An incredible five Irish boxers will fight for gold medals tomorrow at the European Elite Women’s Championships.
The most recent to upgrade their bronze medal is Aoife O’Rourke, who beat Sweden’s Love Holgersson by unanimous decision to advance to the middleweight final.
Kellie Harrington, Caitlin Fryers, Tina Desmond and Amy Broadhurst all won their semi-finals today in Montenegro.
However, Shannon Sweeney and Michaela Walsh have to settle for bronze after both were beaten.
🥊☘️Five Irish boxers Kellie Harrington, Amy Broadhurst, Tina Desmond, Caitlin Fryers and Aoife O'Rourke are through to tomorrow’s gold medal contests at the European Elite women’s championships in Budva, Montenegro.
Read more below 👇https://t.co/nnKax5SFOF#TeamIreland pic.twitter.com/qdeXxFEX6v— Team Ireland (@TeamIreland) October 21, 2022
In the first fight of the opening session of semi-finals, Westport’s Shannon Sweeney was beaten on a unanimous 5-0 verdict by veteran Bulgarian Sevda Asenova in the 48kg semi-final.
With Sweeney making it to the semi-final she was always guaranteed a bronze medal regardless of the outcome
Fryers and Anakhanim Ismayilov began their semi in the light-flyweight division in tentative fashion, but the Belfast boxer upped the tempo in the second round as her Azeri opponent took a number of punishing shots.
Fryers, 22, closed out a unanimous victory as she progressed to a showdown with world champion Buse Naz Cakıroglu of Turkey.
Broadhurst gave another commanding performance in this afternoon’s semi-final to secure a unanimous 5-0 win over Croatia’s Sara Beram.
The victory keeps the Dundalk southpaw on course to compete a hat-trick of World, Commonwealth Games and European championship gold medals win in 2022.
Kellie Harrington faced Donjeta Sadiku of Kosevo in the lightweight division.
Harrington controlled the first two rounds well, increasing the tempo in the second round breaking Sadiku's defence and landing several combinations.
Chasing the fight, Sadiku came out in swinging in the third, landing a few early exchanges in the opening minute. This spurred an impressive response from Harrington, who controlled the remainder of the round ensuring she was victorious in the hunt for the gold medal.
